Monday, August 1, 2011

The Joys of Homeownership: Fixin' Stuff

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: I am not handy. I am, in fact, bad at fixing things. This makes owning a home quite the adventure. I am not afraid to admit I have a handyman on call to do things I won't even attempt.

For example, just this week he installed a new light fixture above the dining room table:

The Handyman liked the other one better

I don't do electricity. I have a thing about not electrocuting myself and burning down my house in the process, leaving my wife a widow my daughter fatherless and my family homeless.

While the handyman was there, he noticed I had removed one of my kitchen drawers. It was sitting on the floor next to the cabinet. However, the pots and pans I keep in this drawer were still in the space formerly occupied by it (because I still need my kitchen to be neat):

I wasn't avoiding it... just hadn't gotten to it yet.

He asked if I wanted him to fix the drawer (the track that is attached to it had bent, causing it to stick and making opening it very precarious at times).

Bendy

I said no, that I would do it. He then told me how. He said I should unscrew the track from the drawer then unbend it. If he hadn't told me that, I most likely would have left it on and busted that sh!t up, gotten angry, blamed my wife somehow, then felt poorly about my inadequate self.

Instead, I followed his instructions. I used a mallet to straighten the track, then reattached it.

And you know what?

I did it:

Back to normal. Whatever normal is.

The whole thing took 15 minutes. I didn't swear. And no family members were injured - physically or emotionally - during the repair of this drawer.

It might not seem like much, but these little victories are very encouraging. And money saving.

There are some things I am better at fixing than others, especially when it comes to the peanut. Click here to read more. (It's one of my favorite posts ever.)